Boarded by Love

by Toni Aleo

  I smile. Harper keeps him while Reese works at the studio since I’m gone now. “He’s sweet, and she loves her nephew.”

  “Whatever. What time is it there? One?”

  “Yeah,” I nod as I lean back against my chair. The walls are vibrating with music, but one of the must-haves was soundproof walls so that when I needed to talk to my family I could. Thankfully my bosses were fine with that because they were crazy expensive, but then, I don’t think they care. They love me and have been amazingly awesome. I mean, I’m living in a penthouse above the Lights and Sounds hotel, I drive a Mercedes, and I have a clothing allowance that would make Kim Kardashian piss her pants. I am set, and man, I love it here. I do wish that Jude was here a hundred percent of the time, but we both knew this was going to happen, that we would be apart. I do have the same problems that every director has, but I don’t know many twenty-year-olds with this kind of job, a hot NHL boyfriend, and basically living a dream life. I am constantly waiting to wake up, but it still hasn’t happened. I don’t know what I did to deserve this amazing life, but I’m more than thankful for it.

  Glancing at the clock, I glare. I don’t know why Jude hasn’t called me, he usually calls me an hour after his game, but it’s almost been four hours, which is really weird.

  “Did you see the game?”

  “Yes, idiots,” I say with a shake of my head.

  Seeing my uncle and boyfriend fight shouldn’t have been so shocking to me, but it was, and I plan on ripping both of them a new one. “Jude should be calling me anytime now. He’s superlate, probably trying to ignore me, but when he does finally call me, I’ll let him have it.”

  “Yeah, Phillip is ignoring me. Even sent me a text saying he knows I’m mad, but just give him a chance to explain. I can’t believe he threw the first punch.”

  “It was obvious that Jude was taunting him. Figures the first time they play each other is the first time they fight. Been good the whole year, but as soon as they get on the ice, they want to be idiots.”

  “So dumb,” she says with a shake of her head. She looks amazing and not like a momma that gets no sleep. Her eyes are bright, and I have to admit that motherhood looks amazing on her. Kissing Sawyer’s cheek, she looks at the camera and waves his little hand. “Say, hi sissy, we miss you.”

  I smile, leaning on my hand. “I miss you guys. I’ll be home for Thanksgiving.”

  “Good, we can’t wait. Can we, buddy?” she asks Sawyer. He’s just looking at the screen, trying to grab her phone. “Anyway, when do you get to see Jude?”

  “I’m not sure. I was going to ask him tonight. I think this weekend he’s going to fly up? I’m not sure. Things have been insane. I had to fire two girls ’cause they’d rather do blow than dance.”

  “More idiots,” she says with a shake of her head.

  “For sure,” I sigh. “It’s so annoying.”

  When my computer signals that I have another call coming in, I say, “Hey, let me let you go. Jude is calling.”

  “Okay, babe, talk to you later. Bye!”

  “Bye! Love you, Sawyer! Love you too,” I add quickly, and she laughs.

  “We love you, bye!”

  I smile as I switch over to Jude’s call. When his beautiful face comes on the screen, I get a little breathless, like I always do. He’s all smiles, but I notice right away that his right eye is almost swollen shut.

  “You’re an idiot,” I say with a shake of my head.

  “Wasn’t my fault!” he says as he walks wherever he’s going.

  “Such a pretty face and you let him mess you up! And why the hell haven’t you called me until now? It’s been like four hours? Did you have to get right on the bus or something? Where are you? Why is it so loud?”

  “’Cause I’m here to surprise you,” he answers just as the door opens and he’s standing there with a bouquet of red roses.

  Squealing, I jump out of my chair and rush to him, wrapping my arms around him. Kissing his lips, I melt against him but then remember I’m mad at him. Pulling away, I smack him in the middle of the chest and he gives me a shocked look. “Jude! You can’t fight my uncle!”

  “Shh,” he says as he grins, wrapping his arm around my waist and carrying me into the office. Kicking the door shut, he throws the bouquet down before holding me up with both hands and walking me to the desk. I know what he’s about to do, and while I’m game for that since I haven’t seen him in two weeks, I need to reiterate that he cannot fight my uncle. As his mouth meets mine, I sorta forget what I need to reiterate and get lost in the way his mouth moves against mine.

  Things have been perfect between us. Even the fights we have over stupid crap are amazing because they are with him, and the make-up sex is unbelievable. Well, any sex is unbelievable, but still, I’m so freaking happy I could scream. Moving his hands up my corset, he kisses the tops of my breasts and says, “Fuck, you are hot in this thing.”

  “Thanks,” I grin as he kisses up my neck to my jaw. “But seriously, Jude, no more fighting, promise me.”

  “I promise,” he says roughly against my jaw.

  Holding his face still, I pull back and ask, “Why were you fighting anyway?”

  I feel his hands leave my body, and a second later he says, “Because of this.”

  He looks down and so do I to see the most stunning diamond ring. Gasping, I cover my mouth as my eyes fill with tears. Through my blurry eyes, I take in the rose gold band and the large diamond that is surrounded by little diamonds.

  “Oh Jude,” I gasp, and he smiles before dropping between my legs to his knees.

  “I asked him if I could marry you. I’ve been asking since the day of the draft, and he has said no every time. Today, I decided I couldn’t wait any more, not when I know my girl walks around looking this hot. I gotta put a ring on it, keep all the men away,” he teases, and I laugh through my tears.

  “Jude, there are no other men.”

  “I know there aren’t,” he says and all the laughter is gone as his eyes meet mine. “I want to marry you, Claire, and I finally have Phillip’s permission. Took me getting my ass kicked, but hey, I’ll do anything for the girl who, every time she looks in my eyes, makes me feel like I’m being slammed into the boards. I can’t live my life without you because you are my other half. So what do you say? Wanna marry me?”

  I’m nodding before the words fully leave his lips. “Of course I do!”

  Sliding the ring on my finger, he grins widely at me before pressing his lips against mine and kissing the hell out of me. Smiling against my lips, he presses small kisses all over my mouth before pulling back to look into my eyes. Moving my fingers into his hair, I say, “So you’ve wanted to marry me since the draft?”

  “I’ve wanted to marry you since I saw you in those geeky black glasses. I love you, Claire.”

  “I love you,” I say, meeting my lips to his.

  Pressing his head to mine, he locks his eyes with mine and I can’t help but smile. I thought I was happy fifteen minutes ago, but right now I am ecstatic. I have the dream job, a healthy, beautiful family, and now a hot hockey-player fiancé. I’m living all my dreams because of the man who is staring into my eyes with a hunger that can’t be touched, and while this would be a great moment to let him have his way with me on this desk, there is still one more thing that needs to be said.

  “But still no fighting with your soon to be uncle-in-law.”

  I smile, expecting him to laugh with me, but his eyes stay serious as his mouth curves up just a tad. I love the little half smile he does. Hell, I love everything about this man and I will for the rest of my life.

  Leaning into me, he whispers, “I don’t have to fight anymore. I won the ultimate prize.”

  As my eyes swim with tears, I nod slowly because he’s not the only one who won.

  I did too.

  THE END

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  Jayden

  “Bro, look! Those girls look like they are DTF!”

  Glancing over at my little brother as I dig my toes into the sand, I roll my eyes. Surely I just heard him wrong because who says DTF anymore? The sun is warming my face, and I really don’t want to process my moronic brother’s exclamation. But he’s smacking me to get my attention, not allowing me to soak in the rays like I want. I’m supposed to be on vacation. Relaxing. But instead, my brother is driving me insane.

  “Jayden, look.”

  “Jace, I know you did not just say that. Who says that anymore?” I ask, but when I look up at him, I know I didn’t hear him wrong. Standing a little shorter than my six-foot-three frame, his light brown hair is flapping in the wind, and for some reason, I can hear my mom saying he needs a haircut. He does—we all probably do—but according to Jace, he’s going for that carefree, surfer look. Dork. His shorts are hanging low in a way he assumes will attract some girls, and as he licks his lips toward the group of girls that are giggling as they check him out, he’s rubbing some lotion with that hungry, horny teenage look in his eyes.

  Douche canoe.

  “Everyone does! Shut up and get up. Let’s go get some tail since Jude can’t,” he says, running the lotion along his belly button. I guess he won’t burn there; everywhere else is fair game though.

  Is it wrong that I hope he does burn?

  Looking over at my older brother Jude, I glare. I blame Jace’s stupidity on him. I’m a smart, respectful guy, not a horndog, but Jude was the epitome of a horndog before Claire came along. Now, he’s so far up her ass, it’s kinda gross. But then again, what do I expect? They are made for each other. Two peas in a pod, and I have to admit, she’s great. She’s back in Nevada, rocking the socks off Vegas folks with her awesome burlesque show, and she does make my brother happy. So of course, I love her. She is good for him, but still their relationship is so sticky sweet that it causes us mere humans to gag.

  As I watch him text on his phone—to Claire, of course—I can’t help but shake my head. So much for this “guys” trip that he planned for us. It’s probably our last chance to hang out together since he is about to start in the NHL and propose to Claire—as soon as her uncle agrees to it—and Jace and I are about to go back to school. This trip has consisted of Jace and me hanging out, which really means I listen to Jace want to fuck every single girl on the beach while Jude sits on his phone.

  Texting her.

  It’s pitiful.

  But I have to admit, I’m impressed by the battery life of his phone.

  I punch him in the shoulder, and Jude jumps before glancing over at me, but he’s still looking at his phone as he types. “What?”

  Ever the multitasker.

  “Your younger brother is turning into a douche. He gets that shit from you,” I inform him, and I hate how irritated I am with Jace. He’s a kid, I should let it go, but man, he reminds me so much of my dad that it honestly sets my teeth on edge.

  When Jude’s brows come together, he looks over at me as his phone falls into his lap. We favor each other a lot more than we do Jace. He looks more like our older sister Lucy, with the same soft features. We’ve made fun of Jace for years for looking like a girl, but he’s starting to harden out. We don’t tell him that though. Jude and I look like men, and we could pass for twins, both with thick jaws and strong shoulders, the only difference being our hair. While his is a light brown, mine is dark, but all of us still have the green eyes that run in our family.

  We are basically some sexy mofos, in my opinion.

  “How does he get that from me? I’m not a douche.”

  “You used to be,” I challenge, and he grins a half-crooked grin before shrugging.

  “He’ll grow out of it.”

  Rolling my eyes, I say, “Not everyone finds a Claire.”

  His grin grows more. “Yeah, but there is someone for everyone, and when he finds her, she’ll calm him down.”

  “I hope so,” I say, letting out a breath. “He’s getting on my nerves with his cocky attitude.”

  “I’m right here,” Jace complains, but I just stare at him.

  “Good, stop being a douche.”

  “Whatever… Hey, girl!” he says, completely ignoring me to holler at some female.

  Jude laughs as he takes a pull of his Coke. Looking at him, I point my thumb at Jace and say, “See?”

  “He’s a kid, and so are you. Go do the same thing,” he says in a way that makes me want to punch him. He acts all superior to me, and I want to call him on his bullshit. I am more mature than he and Jace put together. He tries to act like the older brother, but we all know that it goes, mentally, at least: Lucy, me, Jude, and then Jace.

  Ignoring that, I say, “I’m not a douche.”

  “What makes chasing girls douchey?”

  “He said that a group of girls is DTF.”

  Scrunching his nose, he asks, “People still say that?”

  “Apparently,” I say, leaning back in my chair. “He’s killing me.”

  “Whatever, you’re just mad I have more game than you’ll ever have,” Jace says, hopping on the balls of his feet as he punches the air. “I got her number. Oh and hello, I’m about to go pull all three of these beauties over here.”

  Looking over my shoulder at the not-so-clean looking females, I say, “And get an STD while you’re at it.”

  “I always wear a condom,” Jace throws back at me and I laugh.

  “You haven’t even seen a real vagina yet!”

  “Whatever! I’ve slept with more girls than you could even dream of!”

  Looking at Jude, shocked, I say, “Can you believe this kid?”

  “He is mighty pretty,” Jude supplies, which makes me grin but pisses Jace off to no end.

  “I’m not fucking pretty,” he says, his green eyes blazing.

  “He’s so cute when he’s angry. Look at his pretty, angry eyes,” I tease, which results in him flipping me off.

  “He has always been the pretty one; that’s why he did pageants.”

  “Yup, prettiest boy in Tennessee,” I add, and I am waiting for him to tackle us.

  “Only because Lucy wouldn’t do them!” he yells.

  Ignoring him, I say, “Thank God we made him be a goalie for us.”

  Jude agrees, “Yeah, or he might have been a model.”

  “And I’d still pull more tail than both of you!” he yells, and we both laugh.

  “I don’t disrespect girls like you, I actually appreciate them. Maybe you should try that,” I suggest, but Jace blows me off.

  “Whatever, you can’t pull a girl. It’s cool, and Jude’s leash is so tight, he can’t do anything but look up Claire’s asshole.”

  “Hey, don’t talk about her like that,” Jude snaps, and I want to laugh at how quickly Jace shuts up. Still glaring, Jude crosses his arms and shakes his head. “The girls I have pulled is some Jedi shit, okay? So I am basically Yoda,” he decides, and I can’t believe I am hearing this. “And you are my Luke. So a bit of advice, yes?” Jude says as I continue to laugh, while Jace crosses his arms over his chest and glares. “Rule of thumb, bro: don’t go for two girls. It may seem like a good idea at the time, but then there are so many tits, and you never know which vagina to go for, and girls are so bitchy and jealous if you don’t go for their vagina first. And the next thing you know, they are all feeling sorry for the girl you didn’t pick to put your dick in because you are an asshole for not providing them all with attention at the same damn time. Because, holy shit, you should have more than one dick. And yup, that’s it, you’re not getting laid,” Jude says before grabbing his phone.

  “Seems like you have experience in this?” I ask a
nd Jude laughs.

  “Oh, yeah. So don’t do it. Take two, and get one for Jayden.”

  Jace laughs as I glare. “I don’t need help getting a girl.”

  “Sure,” Jude laughs as he leans back in his beach chair. “There are girls everywhere, all wanting to party before school. And instead of nailing some, you’ve basically been knitting a sweater while we’ve been here.”

  Why does that piss me off so much? And why do they both think I need to nail a bunch of chicks? Don’t they realize that I’ve been busy? Between working my ass off to keep my game solid and working to help our mom pay bills, I really don’t have time to have a life. This isn’t how it was before. Before my dad turned into the biggest asshole in the world of assholes, Jude and I tore it up. With Jace being two years behind me, he didn’t get to play the way we did. But, man, we fucked shit up. It was great, but with everything that happened, I can’t do it anymore. Not only because I don’t have Jude to do it with but because I have to be an adult. I have to help my mom.

  Yeah, this was supposed to be a vacation for all of us to cut loose, but maybe cutting loose isn’t what I want to do. I’m on Clearwater Beach, one of the most gorgeous beaches. I am here to clear my head. I’m here to rest and prepare for a hellish year ahead of me. Between working to continue helping my mom, keeping my grades up and my hockey game good so that hopefully I can go into the draft this year, I feel that relaxing is what I need to do right now.

  My agent, who is also Jude’s and Jace’s agent, didn’t want to put me in the draft last year with Jude, and it crushed me. Along with that and then my dad leaving, I was devastated and I thought my agent was an idiot. But now I realize I wasn’t ready. Playing hockey isn’t easy. It’s a hard sport that I love, but unfortunately it doesn’t come easy to me. Unlike my brothers, I have to work hard to be good, to make it look effortless. With that and the fact that my head wasn’t right, his choice of my waiting a year was smart. But I will be ready next year. I’m gonna be in the big leagues with my brother. I’m gonna be able to help support my sister and my mom the way Jude has been doing.